Nutrition

I used to work for a company that had a reputation for feeding us well. I've even heard a co-worker once say that our unofficial motto was, "Eat early, eat often, and never on an empty stomach." I agree with one of those statements...eat often. Over the last several years, it seems every book, magazine, and expert says it is healthier to eat several small, balanced meals spaced throughout the day rather than eat a few large meals. This applies regardless of whether you sit on your ass all day long in a cubicle or are training for your next Mr. Olympia contest. "Grazing" is easier on the digestive system, enables better assimilation of nutrients, helps control one's appetite, and provides for more consistent blood sugar levels.

Small, frequent meals should be evenly spaced over the day, allowing for no more than three hours between feedings.
- from Supercut, page 40

It is best to eat 6 times per day, with the largest meal in the morning and the smallest latest in the day.
- from Sliced, page 145

While the experts pretty much agree on eating several small meals throughout the day, exactly how the nutrients should be distributed in these meals is debatable.

1-2-3 Rule: In each of your meals, one part of the calories should come from fats, two parts from protein, and three parts from carbohydrates.
- from Hardcore Bodybuilding, page 162

Emerging research on weight loss suggests that a higher protein, moderate carbohydrate diet, such as 40-30-30 (40% of calories from carbohydrates, 30% from protein, and 30% from dietary fat) compared to a more traditional diet (55% of calories coming from carbohydrates, 15% from protein, and 30% from dietary fat), helped keep people feeling full and satisfied.
- from 40-30-30 Balance Bar advertisement

How much protein you need is the subject of nearly every men's magazine, and regardless of how scientific each study claims to be, the conclusions are often inconsistent.

It is estimated that bodybuilders require anywhere from 0.925 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.
- from Hardcore Bodybuilding, page 206

...maintain adequate levels of protein intake - approximately 1 to 1.25 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
- from "Physical Magazine," June 2003

The RDA for protein consumption is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. This recommendation is based on sedentary requirements. Between 1.3 and 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight seems to be ideal for persons engaging in resistance training, although intake as high as 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight might be required if you're doing high volume resistance training. Endurance athletes need 1.1 to 1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight.
- from "Fitness Runner," May/June 2001. Understanding Protein, pages 42-45

To build muscle, the daily amount of protein usable by the average adult male hovers around 0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight and maxes out at 0.9 grams.
- from "Exercise for Men Only," January 2004. Feel Good Facts: Protein Power?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight for adults...sedentary adults.
- from Experience Life Magazine, May 2006, pages 24-26

The American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and American College of Sports Medicine recommend that runners and other endurance athletes set their daily protein-per-pound-of-body-weight target at 0.5 to 0.6 grams per pound of body weight. Weightlifters and other strength-training athletes should aim for 0.7 to 0.8 grams.
- from Experience Life Magazine, May 2006, pages 24-26

Depending on the size of your stomach and your relative digestive efficiency, your body can digest and make ready for assimilation into muscle tissue 20-30 grams of protein each time you eat.
- from Supercut, page 39

One good way in which you can digest more protein than normal is to take digestive enzymes with each meal.
- from Supercut, page 41

I've read from several sources that the best quality protein comes from eggs. This is part of the reason I started raising chickens. The photos at the top and bottom of this page are of eggs that my hens laid in 2021. If you want the egg protein without the fat, eat egg whites. When it comes to getting good, lean protein on a budget, tuna in spring water is pretty good if you can find it on sale. Cod and orange roughy are also fairly lean and what little fat they have may actually be healthy. Chicken or turkey breast is a classic favorite amongst bodybuilders.

Not all proteins are created equal. To better assess the quality of protein in various foods, analysts often use the protein efficiency ratio, or PER, a measure of a specific protein's ability to promote growth. Eggs contain some of the highest quality protein available, giving them a reputation as a "nearly perfect" food.
- from SFGate - Foods With a High Protein Efficiency Ratio

Protein supplements can be used when you can't make time for real food. But real food is better, period. I've heard this from more than one professional bodybuilder and trainer. Don't get me wrong, I'll have a protein bar once in awhile but that is more a matter of convenience. Eating every few hours makes it hard to ensure every meal is well prepared and thought out, but given a choice, choose the real thing.

Red meats offer two minerals that are important for athletes: iron (prevents anemia, needless fatigue) and zinc (helps heal injuries). While many protein supplements are fortified with iron and zinc, these minerals tend to be better absorbed from animal foods.
- from Clark

Can one consume too much protein? Absolutely.

Eating too much protein could have the following effects: diarrhea, bloating, frequent urination, kidney stones, and gout.
- from Experience Life Magazine, May 2006, pages 24-26

Very often, too much cholesterol is a side effect of a high protein diet.

The amount of cholesterol in beef is similar to that in chicken and fish. Cholesterol is part of cell walls; all animal proteins contain a similar amount.
- from Clark

Can one get enough protein from being vegetarian? If you eat eggs, then undoubtedly yes. Supposedly, the only better quality protein is mother's milk. But what if you are vegan? Obviously, you can get enough protein to survive...folks have been eating vegan diets for over 2000 years, according to some sources...and there are plenty of very healthy vegans. But what if your goal is to build muscle? Can this be done on a vegan diet? In my opinion, the answer is "not nearly as efficiently as if one ate animal protein." There are muscular people out there who built their muscle eating animal products and then became vegetarian or vegan. But at that point, they are in maintenance mode which requires much less protein than if they were trying to build muscle. I am sure there are exceptions and maybe one can find success stories along with before/after photos of athletes who built a significant amount of muscle on a vegan diet but I believe that such cases are few and far between.

In the 1970's, the dominant idea for weight loss was to limit your caloric intake. In the 1980's, people wanted things to be low fat. In the 1990's, the big craze was the low carbohydrate Atkins Diet. There is some truth to many of the claims about carbohydrates but the thing to remember is that not all carbohydrates are equal. If you want to learn about carbs, talk to someone that knows about diabetes and read up on the glycemic index. Put simply, foods with a high glycemic index break down fast and quickly elevate blood sugar. Simple sugars/carbs fall under this category.

One reason why the Atkins Diet made people lose weight is because they retained less water.

Each gram of carbohydrate in the human body will hold 4 grams of water.
- from Supercut, page 14

There are plenty of examples out there of simple sugars. These types of carbs won't give you sustained energy, they won't control your appetite, and they won't keep you lean.

Simple sugars...tend to give everyone an energy peak, followed immediately by a low-energy valley, something that is not conducive to successful bodybuilding.
- from Sliced, page 61

So when should simple sugars/carbs be consumed?

Simple carbs can be a better source of fuel in some instances, especially if you have a workout that starts within an hour. That's because your body breaks them down and absorbs them more quickly.
- from Healthline - Is There a Best Time to Eat Carbs?

No carb gives you sustained energy as well as immediate energy.
- from Sliced, page 114

If you want to get lean, eliminate simple sugars from your diet and focus on fibrous and starchy carbohydrates. Some good examples of fibrous carbs include string beans and broccoli. The best starchy carbs are brown rice, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes. Another good starchy carb that is actually also considered a complete protein source (though not exactly high in protein), is quinoa. I often mix quinoa with brown rice and cook them both in a rice cooker. Just make sure you rinse out the quinoa before cooking to remove any bitter taste.

Fibrous carbohydrates have the advantage of imparting a full feeling after you ingest them. This is because of their natural tendency to pool water as they pass through your system.
- from Sliced, page 120

Much less has been written about how many carbs you need as compared to how much protein you need. This is largely due to the fact that since carbohydrates are a very good energy source, the amount one needs is highly variable with how much energy one expends. For general weight control and fat reduction, work on eating the right kind of carbs before you start counting them. That change alone could make all the difference.

Many competitive wrestlers need from 300 to 400 grams of carbs per day to stay strong for competition, but any more than this could lead to body-fat accumulation.
- from "Physical Magazine," June 2003

Choose complex carbs, such as [some] vegetables, grains, and fruits, and avoid all foods with simple sugars. Start with 1.5 to 2 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day.
- from "Physical Magazine," June 2003

Ingesting fewer than 30 grams of carbohydrates per day is very unhealthy and destructive to your body.
- from Supercut, page 16

Eating carbohydrates with meat or other protein foods slows the release of glucose and the insulin process.
- from Clark

Carbohydrates are not fattening; excess calories are fattening.
- from Clark

For many years, fat was just something you wanted to avoid. There were two types of fat: bad and worse. The idea was that fat made you fat...otherwise it wouldn't be called fat. Now, studies are showing that some types of fat, such as omega-3 fatty acids, are actually healthy. High fat foods such as nuts can be part of a healthy diet. Still, if you are concerned with weight control, then you need be concerned about the amount of fat you consume since one gram of fat has nine calories as compared to carbohydrates and protein which have only four calories per gram.

A small amount of fat is an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet. Fat is a source of essential fatty acids, which the body cannot make itself. Fat helps the body absorb vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin E. These vitamins are fat-soluble, which means they can only be absorbed with the help of fats.
- from NHS UK - Fat: the facts

The body needs only 10-20 grams of fat per day for optimum nerve and skin health.
- from Supercut, page 17

3500 calories is equivalent to one pound of body fat.

Vinegar helps to burn body fat.
- from Supercut, page 20

There are various types of fat: saturated, unsaturated, trans, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated, omega-3, and omega-6.

As part of a healthy diet, you should try to cut down on foods and drinks that are high in saturated fats and trans fats and replace some of them with unsaturated fats.
- from NHS UK - Fat: the facts

We all know that sodium intake is a concern for those with or prone to hypertension. It is also of interest to competitive bodybuilders since water retention affects muscle definition.

Prior to a [bodybuilding] show, drink only distilled water, since it has zero sodium content.
- from Sliced, page 148

Some nutritionists have suggested a potassium-sodium ratio of 2:1.
- from Sliced, page 166

Check the sodium content only if you are five days away from your competition.
- from Supercut, page 11

Sodium will hold approximately 50 times its weight of water within the human body.
- from Supercut, page 53

Many sources suggest limiting one's sodium intake and set upper limits as to what that should be. But what is the lower limit?

We know the human body needs only 500 mg of sodium a day to survive.
- from Today's Dietitian - November 2014 Issue - Spotlight on Sodium: How Much Is Too Much, and How Little Is Too Little?

Ever since I can remember, people have stressed the importance of drinking water when exercising. However, too much of a good thing is really a bad thing. The question is, how much is too much? I searched high and low and finally found an answer from a credible source:

During Warrior Week, every Air Force basic trainee is taught to drink one canteen of water (one quart) per hour when working in the heat. As it turns out, that guideline stacks up with proper hydration recommendations very well, plus or minus a quarter canteen. The rate is slightly less if the work or the heat stress is light (as measured by the wet bulb globe thermometer and reported by flag conditions). The American College of Sports Medicine also recommends drinking about a half a quart two hours prior to exercise. A quart and a half is the absolute highest volume to drink per hour. The maximum amount to drink in a 24-hour period is 12 quarts.
- from "Hydration Guidelines" by the Air Force ROTC (2009?)

Keep in mind that excessive water consumption is only one part of the problem. Too much water leads to electrolyte depletion, the real problem.

Hyponatremia is defined as an abnormally low concentration of sodium in the blood. Hyponatremia is also known as water intoxication. Sodium (salt and chloride) is an electrolyte, which helps the body distribute water. This is essential for water balance and for your muscles and organs to function effectively. Electrolytes are lost through sweat. When exercising, our body temperature rises and we sweat to keep cool. The more we sweat, the more sodium lost. Sweat loss varies from as little as 16 ounces to over three quarts during each hour of exercise (Gatorade Sports and Science Institute). For this reason, it is important to replace lost body fluids during and after exercise. To completely replace these fluids, you must not only replace water, but also sodium and chloride. Those who consume excessive amounts of water after exercise can further deplete sodium and chloride levels, leading to electrolyte depletion and possibly over-hydration.
- from "Facts on Hyponatremia" (2009?)

Sweat cools your skin as it evaporates. That's why hot, humid days feel so awful: Sweat can't evaporate into saturated air. After acclimatization, most people sweat about 20 to 30 percent more per hour of exercise, but sweat rate varies greatly from person to person.
The average person sweats out about a quart per hour of exercise before acclimatization and about a cup more per hour afterward.
However, some sweat much more. During the 1984 Olympic marathon, U.S. runner Alberto Salazar sweated out 3.7 quarts per hour.
- from How Bodies Beat the Heat

The human body is 66% water.

You can't make progress if you don't measure it. Unfortunately, there are many ways to measure your results with most having some drawbacks.

How you feel: If you feel bad, then there is a problem. But if you feel good, that doesn't necessarily mean you are making progress. In my opinioin, subjective metrics are not very useful.

Weight: Someone can be overweight and underfat or overfat and underweight so this alone can be misleading.

Measurements: We're all limited by our bone structure. Some of us will never have a 28 inch waistline regardless of how much weight we lose. Or, if you are trying to gain muscle, remember that you may lose fat and gain muscle with no change in measurement.

Body Mass Index (BMI): Again, this says nothing about the quality of your weight. Is it fat or muscle?

Multiply your height in inches by itself, and multiply your weight in pounds by 703, divide the pounds by the inches. A score of 10-19.9 is considered fit, 20-24.9 is considered an ideal body weight, 25-29.9 is overweight, and 30+ is considered obese.
- from "Question and Answer" by Steve Jordan, Results Magazine for Men September/October 2005.

For example, say I weight 155 pounds and stand 65 inches tall. Then my BMI is (150*703)/(65*65) = 24.96.

BMI is a guideline and that is it. If your BMI reading indicates that you might be overweight, then get a body fat test done. The problem, in my opinion, is that people disregard their BMI score but never get a body fat test done. They simply say that they have big bones or the extra weight is muscle. All too often, they are in denial about really being overweight. I call it reverse anorexia.

Body Fat Percentage: This is actually a good measure since it measures the quality of your weight and not the weight. The problem is getting a reliable body fat measurement. Stay away from gyms that offer body fat tests to non-members. They will likely give you a reading that is higher than what your body fat really is in order to get you to join.

Supposedly, the most accurate method is underwater weighing. Unfortunately, the availability of such resources is few, far between, and most likely expensive. Some scales have electrodes that measure your body fat percentage by the speed at which electricity passes through your body. My personal experience is that this method is only moderately reliable. A fat fold test can be done using skin calipers. This method can be somewhat reliable if a sufficient number of measurements are made. Most gyms just take three or four measurements which is far from enough. Different testers may obtain different results so again, this can also be somewhat unreliable.

Steam vegetables instead of boiling them since boiling leaches out many vitamins and minerals.
- from Supercut, page 21

It is virtually impossible to "build up" and "rip up" simultaneously.
- from Sliced, page 45

Male bodybuilders are happy to gain three or four pounds of muscle mass per year.
- from Sliced, page 45

Low potassium can cause the muscles to cramp when they are flexed hard.
- from Sliced, page 164

Experience Life, May 2006.

Hardcore Bodybuilding: A Scientific Approach by Frederick C. Hatfield, Ph.D. Published by Contemporary Books, 1991.

"How Bodies Beat the Heat" from the "Health and Science" section of the Washington Post, Tuesday, May 29, 2012. By Bonnie Berkowitz and Aberto Cuadra.

"The Meat and Potatoes of Sports Nutrition" by Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD. This article appeared in the September/October 2007 issue of Metro Run and Walk.

Sliced by Bill Reynolds and Negrita Jayde. Published by Contemporary Books, 1991.

Supercut: Nutrition for the Ultimate Physique by Joyce L. Vedral, Ph.D. and Bill Reynolds. Published by Contemporary Books, 1985.

Caffeine Chart: Are you getting too much?

Dietary Reference Intake Calculator

Glycemic Index: Because not all carbohydrates are the same